True colours: The writer suggests that there needs to be an attitude change within the structures of South African political parties, putting emphasis on ethics and leadership training for candidates. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
On 14 September, President Cyril Ramaphosa called for greater accountability in local government. He emphasised the need for a stricter vetting process for ANC councillors and stronger performance management.
His remarks were met with mixed reactions. Some welcomed the call from the president while others dismissed it as “election-talk” with the president having no intention of making this actionable.
Such scepticism reflects a wider crisis of mistrust in local government across South Africa.
In Afrobarometer’s Round 9 survey 45% of respondents indicated that they did not trust their local government council at all.
Similarly, 64% of respondents disapproved of the way local councillors have performed in the past year.
These figures represent the need for greater accountability.
However, the discourse is often orientated around citizen-led accountability while not enough is said about how to strengthen intra-party accountability, especially given our electoral system of proportional representation.
Party politics make up a key component of South Africa’s democracy. Not only do political parties hold considerable power at a national level, such as their responsibility to choose the president, but also at a local level, where they play a pivotal role in the governance of municipalities.
This is due to the fact that most voters choose a political party rather than individual representatives (though they now have the option of the latter, a very recent feature). Functionally, then, accountability is derived directly from the parties themselves, as opposed to citizens.
This is not to say that citizens don’t play a key role, but parties can get away with a lot if there is no internal accountability.
Such accountability is important for ensuring trust between citizens and the government, especially at a local level.
However, when parties fail to hold members and leaders accountable it deepens people’s mistrust.
Effectively, if a political party cannot hold its own leaders accountable, how can it be entrusted with representing people and communities?
Over the past decade, the importance of intra-party accountability has grown increasingly; coalitions have become a key feature of the political landscape. Coalitions require trust among parties.
If a political party does not have strong internal accountability mechanisms, it can undermine its credibility and trustworthiness to uphold the coalition agreement which, ultimately, leads to instability in the council.
Last, intra-party accountability is important to ensure that citizens remain the centre of South African politics.
It goes without saying that if there is no or little internal party accountability, power can be abused for
the benefit of a few, turning politics into a game of factional battles and party loyalty above representing and leading people.
Despite parties’ central responsibility towards South Africa’s democracy, the lack of intra-party accountability has undermined this crucial function. This has led to a wide range of issues, from corruption to racism, all of which continue to hinder the ability of municipalities to deliver services to South Africans.
This raises the question as to why intra-party accountability is so weak, despite it being a key part of the formal governance system in South Africa, especially at a local level.
At its core, there are three underlying issues that experts have identified: centralised power of political elites, patronage networks and poor internal democratic mechanisms.
In terms of centralised power structures, candidate selection remains top-down and political elites within the party have stronger control over who becomes a councillor than the local community.
There have been attempts to balance this by incorporating elements of a constituency-based system, however even in those cases, ward councillors tend to be more dependent on the favour of the party leaders than the people within that ward.
Ordinary members also tend to have limited influence as lists are closed — even if you are a member of a party, you don’t have as much control over who represents the party within the council.
Such a system tends to favour party loyalty over performance, as members who are fiercely loyal are protected by the party in turn.
The result is councillors who have no incentive to put the community first as their first interest is in protecting allies, who will in turn ensure their position within the party.
This is exacerbated by patronage networks and factionalism. Councillors often act as middle-men to resources, jobs and contracts. Being embedded in these networks makes it difficult to hold them accountable, as it could expose corruption or undermine the party position.
These councillors consequently get away with poor performance, as holding them accountable can be costly for the party.
Last, there is a lack of internal democratic processes, which undermines accountability. This is because systems that promote transparency, such as internal and branch elections, are often marred by internal politics and gatekeeping.
Instead of creating a culture of broad-based participation, internal processes become reduced to sites of exclusion. This lack of transparency and fairness undermines the party members and communities as power is derived internally rather than through community service.
Weak democratic processes within parties thus creates a disconnect between councillors and their communities.
These factors have contributed to the weak intra-party accountability which most South Africans are familiar with today. Some experts have used this to make a case for reforming the electoral system, focusing on more direct forms of accountability.
However, such measures take years to come to fruition and, withnext year’s local elections looming, we are unlikely to see much change until at least 2030.
How then can these issues be addressed to ensure that there is greater accountability, especially outside of the legislature?
One approach is to reform candidate selection so that it is more representative of the community that councillors are meant to represent. This would create greater accountability between elected officials and citizens and also build trust between citizens and political parties.
Political parties in Kenya, for instance, have primaries where citizens vote for who they want as their candidates to represent them.
Such an approach could work well in South Africa, especially in choosing ward candidates. This would allow communities to play a greater role in selecting candidates and ensuring that they are the best fit for their communities.
It would also mean ward councillors are more accountable to citizens themselves and not simply loyal to their respective political parties.
Another solution would be to introduce deliberative forums where grassroots members and community leaders engage with councillors and political parties.
These meetings could include social audits whereby citizens score their councillors on issues like service delivery, attendance and responsiveness. Such scores could be presented to councillors and political parties to encourage accountability more directly.
There are a number of examples where these initiatives have been implemented with varying degrees of success. For example, in India’s Madhya Pradesh state, regular social audits are held in which communities are able to provide feedback on local government performance and hold it accountable.
Finally, there needs to be a shift in attitude within party structures. One way to accomplish this is by emphasising ethics and leadership training for party candidates. While some have questioned the effectiveness of education, having leaders that are trained to be accountable and ethical plays a key role in ensuring there is greater party accountability.
Creating such modules in party training workshops would go a long way towards creating more accountable councillors who reflect the core values of the constitution.
Intra-party accountability is vital for good governance. Not only does it promote greater citizen participation and trust but directly ensures the delivery of services.
For the past few years, accountability has been put solely on the shoulders of citizens, grassroots movements and civil society. It is time for political parties to step up and do better for South Africa.
Stuart Morrison is a data analyst at Good Governance Africa.